Does anyone have any suggestions for getting a baby to sleep at night that has a cold. My son is almost 9 months old and has a cold that he has been fighting for a few days now. He is fine during the day, but at night he refuses to sleep. He cries and cries. I have a feeling that he is unable to sleep due to his nose being clogged. My husband and I are losing lots of sleep over our sleepless child. Any suggestions?
Thanks everyone for your advice! We proped his mattress up, go a humidifier,used vicks baby rub, and used saline drops. He still struggled to stay asleep, but we did get a little more sleep than the previous nights!! I appreciate all the advice, being a first time mom can be hard sometimes.
The best thing we have done to clear a stuffy/runny nose is to use saline and a dropper and shoot the saline up the baby's nose. I hate doing it, but it dries up his nose right away. DS has a cold right now, and we do this several times a day. It has kept him clear and kept him from getting too stuffed up. It's amazing AND drug free!
Ditto on the elevating the baby's head. We use a rolled up towel.
T.
Hi,
Use a syringe bulb (you probably got one from the hospital) to clean out his nose - he's not going to like it but it will help. Do that a couple of times a day if you can. Apply vicks vaporub on his back, chest (rub it in well) and some on his nose and forehead and even on his feet and cover them with socks. If you have a humidifier, the use that in his room. Also put some blankets under his crib mattress so his head is slightly elevated.
Good luck - its tough when the little ones are ill.
Aarti
My son has been sick with one thing after another since he was born. He's now almost 9 months old and is currently sick with RSV and a secondary ear infection so do I know about trying to get a sick baby to sleep!
First try elevating one side of his crib about 3 or 4 inches, this will help with his sinuses draining. They make wedges that you can buy but a rolled up towl will work too. Also, Vics makes an infant chest rub we use every night. Smells more pleasant than the adults version and is much more gentle. Putting a humidfier in his room will help a LOT. It keeps the snot thinner so his body can rid him of it. Without humidity, the mucas gets thicker, harder to get rid of and just hurts more in the nose and throat.
Infants need sleep to heal so make sure he gets his naps but before bed give him is last meal and make it a big one. Give him a nice warm bath and using the wash that has the vapo-rub in it will help too. Rock him and give him a little Tylenol or Motrin if you know he's got a sore throat or something else that hurts. Run the humidifier all day and night so the room is nice and moist and get him tucked in.
I've made the mistake of relying on the swing for our son to sleep in. Do NOT do this. I actually just posted a question the other day about getting him out of the swing and into bed more. If you haven't started this habit already then do yourself the favor and don't.
But all the little things really add up for a baby who isn't feeling well. We like to be pampered when we're not feeling well, it's the same thing. If he's not feeling well, make the evening before bed extra special...a nice long warm bath, a massage with some lotion and some Vics rub on his chest...it's about all you can do for him.
Hope you find some help in this. Best of luck. Being worn out from a lack of sleep is something I'm too familiar to.
Our son used to do this, only he didn't cry, he just wanted to stay up...ALL Night Long. Drove me crazy. Finally I took him to the ped, because I had to get some sleep sometime. He had an ear infection. His first. But no fever, no pain, no pulling, no traditional signs. In fact he still wants to stay up all night, when his ears hurt. He's almost five now. Just a thought.
No matter what the cause, try sitting him up to sleep, in a seat, prop the matress,etc.... the more elevated he his the better drainage the mucous will have. Good Luck. :)
My suggestions are as follows:
Go to Walgreens and get him the PediaCare plug in vapor thing with the pads. Plug this in his room about an hour before he is supposed to go to bed. This helps my daughter breath when she is sick.
Also get him the Little Noses saline nose drops put them in his nose wait a minute or two and then suction his nose with the nose bulb.
Give it a try, always helps us.
The best advice I ever got was to put a small folded blanket or small pillow under one end of the mattress, to make an incline so the baby's head is raised, allowing the nose to run instead of clog.
Also, we used Little Noses Nose Drops for our baby boy. You can buy it at any drugstore.
Good luck!
When my boys are sick I make sure we try and get as much stuff out of their nose as possible before bad and run the vaporizor all night. IT doesn't work 100% but at least you can get a little rest!
Have you tried little noises. It is saline solution for infants. Also if you prop the mattress up at the head of the bed it helps. My doctor said it is good for stuffy noises and acid reflux in infants. The humidifier is good too and those plugs with the vicks vapors work too...
